An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those Birds which have become extinct in historical times—that is, within the last six or seven hundred years.

is a book by Walter Rothschild which covers globally extinct and rare birds, as well as hypothetical extinct species which include bird taxa whose existence is based only on written or oral reports or on paintings.

The accounts of the extinct bird taxa are based on Rothschild's lecture On extinct and vanishing birds published in the Proceedings of the 4th International Ornithological Congress 1905 in London.

Subsequent authors like Errol Fuller were influenced by Rothschild's reference work.

The 45 color paintings and four grayscale sketches are by John Gerrard Keulemans, George Edward Lodge, Henrik Grönvold, Frederick William Frohawk and Joseph Smit.